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| Adam Carr's Election Archive
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Australian federal election, 2025
Division of Blaxland, New South Wales
Named for: Gregory Blaxland (1778-1853), explorer of New South Wales.
Western Sydney: Auburn, Granville, Guildord, Merrylands, Regents Park
Enrolment at 2019 election: 105,383
Enrolment at 2022 election: 107,252 (+01.9)
1999 republic referendum: No 51.0
2018 same-sex marriage survey: No 73.9
2023 Voice referendum: No 61.8
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Sitting member: Hon Jason Clare (Labor):
Elected 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2022
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2007 Labor majority over Liberal: 18.4%
2010 Labor majority over Liberal: 12.2%
2013 Labor majority over Liberal: 11.4%
2016 Labor majority over Liberal: 19.5%
2019 Labor majority over Liberal: 14.7%
2022 Labor majority over Liberal: 14.9%
2025 notional Labor majority over Liberal: 13.1%
Status: Safe Labor
2022 results
Statistics and history
Division of Blaxland
Blaxland was created in 1949, and has always been based in Sydney's western suburbs, and until this election centred on Bankstown.
It has one of the lowest income levels of any urban electorate, and one of the lowest levels of people in professional
and managerial occupations. Over 70% of its households are non English speaking, and until the 2024 redistribution it had the highest proportion of Muslims of any seat in Australia. These factors all make Blaxland a safe seat for the Labor party. (They also explain why
Blaxland produced the highest "no" vote in Australia in the postal survey on same-sex marriage.)
Blaxland used to be aligned roughly east-west, from Lakemba to Bass Hill. The 2006 redistribution pushed the seat further
west to take in most of Cabramatta, the centre of Sydney's South-East Asian community, which made it even safer for Labor.
But the 2010 redistribution realigned the seat to run north-south, from Bankstown to Guildford. The 2016 redistubtion
extended it even further north, to Auburn, and the 2024 redistribution has continued this trend, taking in Granville and
Guildford while losing Bankstown and Milperra. The seat in fact now resembles old seat of Reid, based on Auburn and
Granville. These changes have weakened the seat somewhat for Labor.
Blaxland's most eminent member has been
Paul Keating, elected in 1969 at age 25, and Labor Prime Minister from 1991
to 1996. After his defeat by
John Howard in 1996, he resigned his seat. The 1996 by-election was won by
Michael Hatton, who had been Keating's electorate
officer for eleven years. After a decade as an inconspicuous backbencher he was disendorsed by the Labor National
Executive before the 2007 election.
Jason Clare, Labor MP for Blaxland since 2007, is a lawyer who was manager of corporate relations for Transurban before
his election, and was earlier a senior adviser to Premier
Bob Carr. He was promoted rapidly, becoming a parliamentary
secretary in 2009 and a minister after the 2010 election. He is now Minister for Education.
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